Metal Gear Solid 4: Instruments of Conflict
by jonstevens
Summary: This installment in the Metal Gear Solid saga is not what you would expect it to be. This is my rendition of the story. I have created a completely original segment, while retaining certain aspects of the known MGS4 info. Enjoy!
1. Disclaimer

This fanfiction, entitled "Metal Gear Solid 4: Instruments of Conflict" is just that, a work of complete fiction. I have taken the liberty to alter some of the things in the Metal Gear universe/timeline, but after you read the completed "novel" everything will be clear. First off, some of the major things I have done are shift dates, and I made a substantial change to Big Boss and Solidus Snake's overall roles.. Once again, it will be clear eventually. Also, many of the events that took place in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater were disreguarded. Also, Solid Snake is not "deteriorating" and is not aging. He is actually 36. I mainly reworked the saga for two reasons: it's fun to create your own twist on a franchise, and I believe that when this segment is complete, you will feel as though it could almost fit into the world we live in today. You will notice however, that some elements (such as the Beauty and the Beast unit) from the MGS4 previews and such will be in this story. I incorporated some of the actual story into my version. I guarantee if you stick with me to the end, you will not be disappointed. I plan to update by chapter regularly. I have the story completely mapped out in an eight page "diagram".

For the first "chapter", I have given detailed descriptions of my original characters, (besides Raiden). I included Raiden's because I felt it was semi-vital. The way these little biographies are written is not the format of which the actual novel will be written. There may be some grammatical errors, etc. because I typed these mainly as an outline for myself. However, they will be interesting/vital to read. Now, for these characters, I made some "celebrity placements" to help the reader visualize what I want these characters to look like. Once again, I did not provide one for Raiden, because he is not my character. I obviously didn't provide references to other characters like Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, because we all know what they look like.

Juliana would be an Angelina Jolie type. Emma Torrence would be portrayed by Ellen Page. Nicolas and Isabelle would be played by Adrien Brody and Elodie Bouchez. Alex Briggs would be Wesley Snipes. Kai would be James Kyson Lee. Marienne would be Carrie-Anne Moss. Tristan would be James Badge Dale. Finally, Audry Porter (the NSA operative) would be either Alexa Davalos or Evangeline Lilly.

With that "cast" out of the way, one of the last things of importance is the timeline. In "my" universe, it goes as follows:

Metal Gear Solid-December 2003

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty-March 2006

Metal Gear Solid 4: Instruments of Conflict-October 4, 2009

Now, enjoy the story!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own/nor did I create any characters/locations/etc. in the Metal Gear Solid universe. I am not associated with Konami, and Metal Gear Solid is the creation of Hideo Kojima. The characters that are NOT mentioned anywhere in the MGS series however, were created entirely by me.


	2. Characters

**Juliana Versace**

**Aka "The Commander", "The Samael" and "Shortstop" (nickname given to her by SEALs comrades)**

**Nationality: Italian**

**Age: 33**

**Bithplace: Bari, Italy**

**Unique "Specialties": Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, CQC, Uncanny ability to seduce/manipulate people**

**Fluent in: Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, and English.**

Juliana Versace is a freelance assassin, traitor to the United States, and leader of a terrorist cell called: "The Reformation". She is responsible for the assassination of Dale McJargen (CEO of ArmsCorp) manufacturer/tester/developer of many weapons that supply the US Military. She assassinated him on June 18, 2006 and was paid $2 million by an unknown source to carry out the task. The hit took place in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia (at the Petronas Twin Towers). McJargen was in a meeting in Tower Two, which is home to many offices of Boeing, the major aerospace/defense corporation. He was in talks about creating a new fleet of aircrafts for the "higher-ups" in the White House that were even more secure than current transports. While on the sixty-third floor, Juliana was in the adjacent building, on the sixty-fifth floor. Authorities traced the bullet casings to that of an MK-909 sniper rifle, which was found (wiped clean), on the roof. Along with the rifle, there were photographs and logs detailing Mr. McJargen's one week stay at the Petronas Towers, even reports of his room service bills, along with a copy of his room key. The Towers' security bumped up quite a few notches thereafter.

Juliana's father, Rochelo Versace was born in Venice, Italy. Rochelo was a member of the Italian mafia family, "Parentele del Diavolo", which roughly translates to: "Devil's Kin". After being single for quite some time, Rochelo tried to "retire" from the mob business, which he succeeded in doing. He soon met (then married) Vanessa Odejas (of Spanish/Portugese decent). The couple moved to Bari, stayed under the radar, and had a daughter. They raised Juliana in Italy until she was 8.

When the mob found out Rochelo and Vanessa had a daughter, they tried to kidnap her as payment for "debts owed". The family moved to the United States to escape. They took refuge in Connecticut. Unfortunately for the family, Rochelo got back into the mafia business in the US, specifically drug peddling. This sparked news in the underground circuit, which eventually got back to Italy. The "Devil's Kin" sent a group of men to keep tabs on Rochelo for a week or so, before actually approaching him. As a test of his commitment to be placed back in his old "family", Rochelo was forced to kill his wife in front of Juliana. Although hesitant, Rochelo carried this out. Juliana witnessed her mother's death at age 11, in their own home, and Rochelo abandoned her, reclaiming his position with Parentele del Diavolo.

Juliana was put in an adoption agency, and was eventually taken in by Eric Pross and his wife Trishia. Pross was a Naval Officer. Getting influenced by Pross's NAVY stature, Juliana made the decision at age 18 to go to Annapolis Naval Academy. By as early as 20, she proved herself to be an asset, and was immediately admitted to the Navy SEALs after making substantial progress during testing. While working with the SEALs, Juliana loved the thrill she was getting, and the thought of hunting humans. She also still had a pool of revenge curdling inside her. It was during a mission in South Korea that Juliana decided to resign from the Navy, and study martial arts and Taoism. This decision was made after Juliana had served in the military for only one year.

While 21, she spent 2 years traveling to Thailand and Taiwan, studying various martial arts, and became exceedingly proficient at Aikido and Tae Kwon Do. Before her twenty-third birthday, she made the decision to be a freelance assassin/hitman, but she vowed only to kill for "change". She would not dispose of anyone who was not directly/in-directly connected to the government/military/etc. She developed a hatred for the United States, strongly influenced but some of the things she had seen while with the Navy SEALs. For a year and a half Juliana spent time with political-activist groups, and assassinated a large number of high-ranking government officials, usually without compensation.

In mid-2002 (at age 26), she came across Solidus Snake. Solidus had heard much about her, and was willing give her a large sum of money to take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom (undercover) which was still in effect at the time. He wanted her to infiltrate one of the temp-US bases on site in Iraq, and steal blueprints for Metal Gear REX. This task took place a few months before the Shadow Moses incident (where REX was fully operational, and being used by Liquid Snake).

Juliana did as Solidus asked, but kept the blueprints for herself, disreguarding the money. She was curious as to what exactly Metal Gear was. She then went off the map for about a year. In 2004, she was recognized as one of the top female assassins in the world by criminal circuits as well as governments across the globe. This is also the year Juliana finally got her revenge. She had been researching her father's whereabouts, but had been surveying from the sidelines, choosing her moment to strike wisely. She cornered him in Epirus, Greece. Spilling all the feats she had accomplished in front of him, while he was just a mere mobster, Juliana had mocked her father, and destroyed any sense of pride that he had. Then, she did not technically kill Rochelo. She buried him alive, with a pistol, containing only one bullet. She made it appear as though he was deep in the ground after she buried him, when in actuality he was about 1½ feet below the surface. Still, his body was later discovered with a bullet in his head.

During 2005-2006, she took time to create her own group of ecoterrorists who shared her same general goals. After she assassinated the ArmsCorp CEO in 2006, she really started to invest interest in the construction of Metal Gear prototypes. She had heard about the Big Shell incident, the Metal Gear's that the Marines were trying to mass produce, and she felt that with one of her own, her Reformation could actually fight the "tyrants" of America. It wasn't until the end of 2007 though that Juliana overheard rumors about The Patriots, the group whom was originally brought to her attention by Solidus Snake in 2002. She thought he was lying about their existence, until she overheard plans of the treaty being constructed, which would mean there really is a Philosopher's Legacy, and Solidus was in fact telling the truth.

Solidus was now going under the alias George Sears in the US Congress, until Juliana found him out. They put aside their differences, and began plotting what would soon be the events of 2009. The main plan that was to be executed:

-Stop the signing of the treaty.

-Assassinate the President of the United States and regain the Legacy

-Take out a portion of the Legacy to construct a Metal Gear

-Use the Metal Gear to take out The Patriots

-Place George Sears in Office

-Reveal the truth to the United States citizens about The Patriots

-Change the world

This ludicrous sounding plan was conceived with very powerful people to back it, but this was all before Solid Snake got involved, and of course a few complications were sure to arise. And thus it begins… 

It should be noted that Juliana gave all her members of The Reformation callnames according to mythological beasts and monsters. One of her own current codenames is "The Samael" (Judeo myth) which means "seducer, destoryer, regaurded as both good and evil". Juliana believes that she plays both sides of justice, and that many biased men view her as evil. "The Samael" is also considered to be the angelic name of satan, and is referred to as the "angel of death".

**Alex Briggs**

**Aka "The Minotaur"**

**Nationality: American**

**Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania**

**Age: 40**

**Specialty: Uses anything as a weapon.**

Alex Briggs is an ex-soldier turned mercenary. Up until he was recruited by Juliana, he was with a group called The Civil Convicts, eco-terrorists and other like-minded mercenaries. Essentially, they had the same interests as Juliana's Reformation.

Alex and Juliana have somewhat of a relationship (or at least that is Alex's assumption), and she sometimes refers to him as her "sergeant", playing on the fact that she is "the commander" of the group. His actual codename though, The Flame, comes from the fact that he is psychotic in battle.

Not only is Alex useful to Juliana in the fact that he himself, is basically a weapon, but being in the military for 15 years gave him access to many insider secrets. Sadly, being the master manipulator that she is, Juliana has been able to suck information out of this "pawn" and considers him to be an expendable asset.

Briggs' callname is "The Minotaur" (Greek myth), which of course is the half-man/half-bull beast. Juliana thought that his personality, as well as vigor, would fit this title.

**Emma Torrence**

**Aka "The Kitsune"**

**Nationality: American**

**Birthplace: Seattle, Washington**

**Age: 21**

**Specialty: Archery, uncanny aim/accuracy**

Born to Brent and Christine Torrence and raised in Washington state. Her father was a Congressman, and her mother, an attorney. Her brother Wess was planning to go to law school. Typical upper-class American family. Emma, very unlike the rest of her family, has a severe case of bi-polarity, and is extremely rebellious. She is a feminist, and loathes her family for being government puppets. Aside from living a pretty pampered teenage lifestyle at home, she made up for it by causing all of the following:

-tried to sabotage her fathers campaign multiple times

-started fights frequently, expelled from private academy

-arrested on multiple accounts including: battery, vandalism, and shoplifting

-illegal rallying (which involved destruction of property)

-most recently in 2008, arson

Emma had been in DeLoring's Catholic Academy up until she was 12, where she was expelled for fighting. She then transferred to another private school, where she broke a boy's jaw, and was caught smoking. She was expelled again, at age 14. When faced with juvenile hall after shoplifting over a few hundred dollars in merchandise, Emma served her year and went back to school. She dropped out at 16 and began living in an apartment with a group of older girls.

During 2006 (being 18), she and a few others planted home-made bombs at a rally supporting the Iran Conflict. 9 people were killed, 3 were severely injured.

From the time she was young, Emma had taken up archery to relieve stress, and became an expert at it. Even with guns, her aim was impeccable. She became sort of a vigilante around Washington, and was eventually discovered by Juliana after the bombing incident. She was recruited, but Juliana wanted to test her inner toughness. Much like the test Juliana's father had endured, she requested that Emma kill her brother. When asked the reason, Juliana replied: "Your brother is going to be another cog in a blood bath machine. The only way to stop this blood machine, unfortunately, is to spill more." Emma saw truth to this and carried out her task. She seemed to have no remorse for it as well, and she promised that she would rather lay down her own life, than see her family contribute to the hell the US government is creating.

Even though Emma views Juliana as her superior, and sort of mentor figure, she has the "student surpasses the teacher" complex. She has stated that when the time is right, she will try to overthrow Juliana.

Emma's codename is "The Kitsune" (Japanese myth) which is a "fox with magical abilities, viewed as a creature with wisdom that can assume human form". Juliana made many references to Emma resembling the nature of a wolf, or a fox while spending time with her.

**Kai Na-Shimotiang**

**Aka "The Talos"**

**Nationality: Taiwanese**

**Age: 28**

**Born: Miaoli, Taiwan**

**Specialty: Is literally immune to pain, proficient in throwing knives, kick-boxing**

Kai Na-Shimotiang lived a relatively normal life up until he was 14. At that time, the Chinese Red Army had a condensed war with South Korea. Taiwan, Thailand, and parts of Mongolia were caught in the cross-fire. Kai was injured when troops from China invaded parts of Miaoli and Hsinchu. In the streets of the suburbs just outside Miaoli, Kai was shot on accident. The bullet was lodged in his left cerebral cortex, in the part of the brain that controls nervous system functions.

After being rushed to the hospital, the news was delivered that if the bullet was removed, blood would over-fill his cerebellum, and he would die. The consequence of leaving it in however, was that Kai was no longer going to be able to feel…anything. Not a touch a the hand, not even the air traveling down his throat after a breath.

His parents were obviously immensely troubled by this, and decided to leave Taiwan. They moved to New York, fearing that the skirmishes that crossed their country would grow worse. Kai Na-Shimotiang became obsessed with pain and pushed his body to the limit. He performed daredevil like stunts, and eventually grew to the liking of boxing.

By 19, Kai was quite the fighter in local arenas. However, his obsession got to him. In a match, he intentionally beat his opponent to death. From this moment on, his ran from his family, and went to train in solitary. He began feeling that most people were inferior, and did not deserve life/were not grateful because humanity was growing weak and full of complaining. His infatuation with pain turned him into somewhat of a psychopath.

Kai (26 at the time) was actually the one who went to seek out Juliana. She was in New York, preparing for a hit, and Kai was running with a crowd after the same man. At the meeting, it was fate. Kai told her his story, and since then he was become her "body guard" of sorts. She gave him his codename, "The Talos" (Greek myth), because it is a "man made of bronze that protected Crete, circling its shores three times daily", and seeing as how Kai is almost like an unbreakable metal, who protects her, she felt it was fitting.

**Marienne Yates**

**Aka "The Buraq"**

**Nationality: French**

**Birthplace: Rouen, France**

**Age: 35**

**Specialty: Genius IQ, exceptional strategist on the battlefield, acts as if her rifle is one of her limbs**

**Fluent in: French, Russian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Portugese, and English**

Marienne Yates was born a (flawed) child prodigy. Marienne has mild schizophrenia. She was also born in France to a single mother, Christine. She was sheltered from the "real world" for most of her early childhood. Her mother knew even as she was a toddler that Marienne would grow to do great things…some unexpected terrible things as well.

Marienne was in strict private schools until the age of 15, when she was accepted to Princeton University. She received so many scholarships, that her tuition was brought down almost 80 percent. While in the US, and at college, Marienne became interested in languages, and also in communications/translations in aid with the government. She planned to major in Linguistics and Foreign Languages. Things were going as well as they could for a girl who was in college at 15, scored a 1600 on her SAT, and was planning to join the NSA in the future.

After four and a half years, Marienne earned her graduate degree, which normally would be a six-eight year process. At 19, no one could even tell she had originated from France. Her accent had been masked, and she was now fluent in six languages. She had also managed to keep her multiple-personality disorder at bay, although at the price of heavy medications and frequent psychiatric visits.

One year passed and Marienne secured a low-level job at the NSA. It was at this time that she developed a relationship with another young woman, Katrina. Marienne kept the fact that she was indeed a lesbian, a secret from her co-workers and superiors at the NSA, also from her mother. As Marienne rose through the ranks, she finally became a field officer, and was remarkably good at it too. The field felt natural to her, and when she went in with a team, if she was the head coordinator before the mission commenced, there was never a mistake, always three failsafes, and she mapped out every scenario and exit strategy possible.

Things did take a turn for the worse shortly after Marienne turned 22. On a intel-only mission to Kuwait, Marienne was kidnapped, tortured, and brainwashed by a terrorist cell. Her schizophrenia that had been finally locked away, was now unleashed again. Marienne was found almost three weeks later by her team, on a side road near their base. She was analyzed and brought back to the US. She had been brainwashed to be a mole for the terrorists. Which, she faithfully did until she was 25. For three years, a part of her subconscious as it were, was owned by Saudi Arabian terrorists. Leaking information and becoming more and more involved with those people got her thinking. Her "bad side" was coming out again. Things just kept going down hill from there.

Six months later Marienne's mother had a stroke and passed away. This tipped her over the edge, but surprisingly, this help her in combat. She was given the highest clearance a field officer could achieve, while secretly going mad at the same time.

At 29, Marienne left the NSA after the death of Katrina, who was beaten to death by muggers. This made Marienne go into solitary for awhile. She traveled and stopped taking her medications. She now had two, lucid, distinctive personalities that were very noticeable when they interchanged.

Still 29, she was in Vienna, Austria at a train station. She created a disturbing scene in public and pulled out two loaded handguns. Crying, screaming, and shouting that everyone was "doomed and cursed due to their own tethers", she proceeded to open fire, at no one in particular. She caused two fatalities, one being a child. She was immediately detained in an Austrian asylum, where she remained until she turned 33. This was when Juliana Versace came to "bail her out", claiming to be Marienne's sister, and having very convincing proof, she was released.

Of course, being in the state Marienne was in, she was obliged to join Juliana. Marienne was Juliana's earliest recruit, besides Alex Briggs. Juliana gave Marienne the callname: "The Buraq" (of Middle Eastern myth) which literally is "a creature that came from the heavens to bring Muhammad from Earth to the heavens." Marienne has stated that she delivers HER cargo/passengers (or even prey) to hell.

Marienne has also stated that she would like Juliana to kill her after their final payoff/goals have been completed. She feels that this is the last useful thing someone in her state can do before she goes completely insane.

**Nicolas and Isabelle Kietsch**

**Aka "The Ghosts"**

**Nationality: Ukrainian**

**Born???**

**Age(s): 36 and 32**

**Specialty: Superhuman speed, adrenaline output, agility, and flexibility. Nicolas has acute telekinetic abilities.**

Nicolas and Isabelle are biological brother and sister. Their father, Edmond Kietsch, was an agent for the KGB. Their mother's name is unknown. From the time the kids were born, Edmond had them encompassed in the KGB and Russian military atmosphere. Although they are all Ukrainian, Edmond had defected to Russia years earlier, feeling that the Soviet Union would one day be the world's most powerful entity.

Their father was cruel to them, especially Nicolas. He raised them entirely in the military camps after their mother passed away. Nicolas had failed to retrieve a message from the base at one point in time, and Edmond broke his nose. Nicolas was 10 at the time. Edmond put Isabelle into a girls school, feeling that the military was not for her. Nicolas on the other hand, was placed in the KGB's experimental Psy-Ops unit that was focused on honing in on human being's kinetic and ESP abilities. He was tested positive and began the intense program.

Shortly after, Edmond suspected that perhaps Isabelle also has the trait, and pulled her out of school. Upon discovering that Isabelle did not have the trait, he placed her in a youth boot camp as a "punishment". Almost forgetting about her entirely, Edmond left her at the camp for a year and a half.

During that time, Nicolas (16) was enduring the Psy-Ops program as well as military drills, both of which he was excelling at. Edmond had almost gone mad. Feeling that Nicolas may get out of shape for training, Edmond put ipecac in some of Nicolas's meals, and made him lift weights at odd hours then run miles on end. Nicolas was physically weakened so much that his brain had a relapse, which oddly increased his telekinetic abilities. Now Nicolas could mentally lift and entire table. He had previously just been shifting around plates, books, etc.

The program continued and when Nicolas was 20 (Isabelle being 16), he and his sister agreed to submit to their father's experimental project. The project was: Enhanced Cellular Adrenaline Manipulation (ECAD). Both siblings went through the treatments (which were excruciatingly painful), and they both saw results immediately. Nicolas and Isabelle became extremely fast, and their adrenaline levels increased times 9.888. However, Nicolas always retained the edge.

Two years later the KGB was shut down, and of course, no longer exists to this day. Edmond felt he had no purpose now, and that his project was a waste. He drank frequently, and took his anger out on Isabelle, constantly beating her. This enraged Nicolas, and he unintentionally made his father's heart stop during a confrontation. With their father dead, Nicolas and Isabelle fled for their lives throughout Ukraine. It was reported in the papers that Edmond Kietsch had a heart attack.

The two siblings lived in peace up until Juliana Versace found them in Ukraine. She had searched KGB archives and found that these were the only living subjects out of the 5 who passed the Psy-Ops program. Nicolas was reluctant to join her, but Isabelle convinced him. They both joined The Reformation. Nicolas and Isabelle have said that they do not hate the United States, and they do not care about change. They are only assisting her because they feel that they have no other purpose. If they lived elsewhere, out of refuge, they would be probed or used as government research for some country.

Isabelle dyed her hair black and cut it short to match Nicolas, as to make it difficult to diminish who is who in combat.

The siblings were given the callname "The Ghosts" (American myth) for the reasons that they believe they are outcasts who stay in the shadows. Ghosts frighten people, and the siblings believe they do just that.

**Tristan McAllen**

**Aka "The Amut"**

**Nationality: Canadian**

**Born: Montreal, Canada**

**Age: 26**

**Specialty: Guns, blind in one eye but has immaculate aim, can "read" opponents moves before they happen (almost like an extra sense) **

**Fluent in: French, German, English**

Tristan McAllen spent most of his life in foster homes. He was born (blind in his right eye) in Montreal, but a family from Vancouver took him in and raised him. They always felt that Tristan was "special" and deserved more than just a mundane life in Vancouver doing ordinary jobs. By the time he was 9 or so, his parents, Charles and Marie, could tell that he was somehow noticing things before the happened. At first they summed it up to a kind of déjà vu, but when Tristan had saved his mother from almost getting into a car crash, they looked into it more, visiting many researchers.

By the time he had turned 17 though, his family had given up on his "talents" and he was focused on college. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after gaining a visa to the US. While at college, a CIA operative was sent in draft Tristan after they had noticed his GPA, course load, and major. Although forced not to tell his family about this, he accepted. By 22, Tristan was a full-fledged agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Things had been going smoothly while he was with the CIA, up until September of 2008, when Tristan stumbled upon files detailing human genome experiments, etc. Even more shocking was that this was not an offshoot, it was being condoned by the President of the United States himself. It was around this time Juliana had stumbled on Tristan. She had a mole in the CIA who layed low, only collecting data on new recruits and people who excelled to a obscene level, and giving said data to Juliana. When she noticed that Tristan had been given such high level clearance at 25, she sensed a prodigy. She was correct.

Upon meeting him, she layed everything out on the table. She did not bother to create an alias for herself, etc. She did however lie, and fed him fake documents about testing of genetics on children that the US government was conducting. She also said their actions as a group would cause no casualties lives, another lie. He took quite a bit of persuasion, but after showing him "the scene" (which consisted of men she hired, posing as CIA agents, torturing a person during interrogation) he immediately regretted working for the government, and went "M.I.A" with Juliana without even tendering his resignation.

Tristan actually chose his callname, "The Amut" (Egyptian myth) because it was a creature that "helped Anubis in judging the afterlife". Tristan feels he has earned the ability/right to judge who lives or dies.

**Raiden**

**Aka Jack (LAST NAME REMOVED) and "White Devil"**

**Nationality: American**

**Born: Monrovia, Liberia**

**Age: 25**

**Specialty: Until the "transformation", just extensive military training**

Jack is the son of (REMOVED) and (REMOVED). He was born while (REMOVED) and (REMOVED) were having relations while on a mission in Liberia. After (REMOVED)'s mysterious disappearance a month after Jack's birth, (REMOVED) felt he was not fit to take care of him alone. Raiden/Jack was then orphaned by (REMOVED).

Jack was originally part of the Liberian Civil War during the early 90s, where after becoming a young soldier, he was drafted into the "Small Boys Unit". Tricked into coming to the U.S. by "parents" sent by The Patriots, Jack gained his citizenship and was immediately thrust into the U.S. Army's Force XXI trials. Upon completion, Jack was accepted into a controlled FOXHOUND unit. This is where he fell in love with an analyst at the unit, Rosemary.

In February 2004, Jack proceeded to undergo VR training. This included an exact re-creation/simulation of the Shadow Moses incident. After graduating training, Jack continued to work with FOXHOUND until his first real mission in 2006, in which he was sent to infiltrate the Big Shell facility,

After the events in 2006 (which included Rosemary's death), Raiden had contemplated suicide. Then, he sought purpose in participating in the "Blackout Program". This was a highly experimental, and dangerous program that the U.S. Military was conducting. It entailed literally re-constructing the subject's body into an exo-skeleton, and re-formatting the brain to be objective-focused. They hoped to create a soldier that would only be concentrating on one thing…battle.

The "blackout" codename was derived from the fact that the subject is in a comatose state during the procedure for eight months. When the subject awakes, he/she has all their previous memories, but they are layed out in the brain much like a computer harddrive, and have to be "dug out".

By 2008, the procedure was complete, and Raiden was considered a remarkable success. 90 percent of his body had been replaced with cybernetic prosthetics, and the only original remaining parts of his human body are his head and spine. Raiden also appears mildly pale, due to the fact that he now has artificial blood (which is white).

He appears emotionless now, and with the exoskeleton/cybernetics and about a $450,000 of medical enhancements coursing through his veins, Raiden's strength/reflexes/agility/flexibility have increased to almost 10 times that of an Olympic athlete. Raiden is also virtually bulletproof, not only due to the fact that most of his body contains artificial muscles, etc. but the outer-most layer of the suit is triple-layered Kevlar. His helmet is also bulletproof plexi-glass compound, and the sliding eye mechanisms work as night vision and 25x zoom binoculars.

During "in action" VR tests, Raiden (armed only with a high-frequency blade) was able to eliminate seven GEKKO's (prototype marine Metal Gear), and a squad of four heavily armed soldiers. The completion time was two minutes and three seconds.


	3. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind."

-John F. Kennedy

Never in the history of time has something been undone, something so shocking, that it would quite literally create a moral imbalance among citizens of the world…for years to come. It's quite ironic, actually. The fact that a mere signing of a document, can pull the thread that shroud's the "face" of the United States, and reveal it's truth. The fact that this "shroud", has been placed on its secret for almost one-hundred years. The secret of course being…The Patriots. The group, accredited with such aliases as: "The Wisemen's Committee", and "The Philosophers", is almost un-describable. Rather, their _acts_, are un-describable.

How do you relay to a nation, that a group of twelve men and women, essentially decide the outcome of your countries' affairs, determine what you see on the news or in a magazine, and in some cases, how you live your life. This group of twelve, are all powerful. They are untouchable. They can essentially do as they please, and they believe that they are an entity to the U.S. Most importantly however, they are very upset with what the current President is about to act on. That being…"The Treaty of Incarcerated Assets."

These assets, were the sum of one-hundred billion dollars when The Philosophers originally created the "Legacy" in the 1930's. This Philosopher's Legacy, was funded by the three world leaders (U.S., China and Russia). It was hidden amongst eight banks across the globe. It's purpose, to financially back weapons testing, war costs, experimental research, etc. All went well with the secrecy, up until the late 1950's.

This was when some Russian government officials discovered these funds existed, and decided to claim them for the Soviet Union.

Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin was enlisted (along with some ex-Spetsnaz soldiers) to recover the funds in 1961, which they did. They hoped to give all political/economical control to Russia. This action by the Russians, was what initially sparked Operation Snake Eater, along with rescuing Dr. Nikolai Sokolov. The U.S. eventually regained control of the money, and kept it in one bank in California. The U.S. informed China they had done this, which of course, had them enraged on the brink of retaliation.

In 1963, with most of the original members dead, the United States proposed that a "new Philosphers" be formed, but only made up of U.S. officials. Thus, The Patriots were born, comprised of twelve high ranking people within the government. The twelve serve until death, then they are replaced by the men/women of the same positions (i.e. directors of CIA, DoD, etc.) However, a said director, for example, must be thoroughly examined and made sure that he/she comply with everything that The Patriots set out to do. If not, a new director is chosen immediately that does comply. The director who is rejected, is tortured, brainwashed, and let go, having no memory of The Patriots whatsoever. Tight surveillance is placed on the person, even after release to ensure secrecy. On record, there have only been two men who have tried to leak Patriots intel after being released, and retaining memories. They were each met with a "tragic accident" and cover story.

So, with that in mind, The President of the United States, Richard B. LeRowe, is meeting with the world leaders in London, England to sign this treaty. The "Philosopher's Legacy" has grown to the sum of four-hundred fifty billion dollars in unfrozen funds since 1963. The President (unaware of The Patriots existence) wishes to extend those funds to Russia and China. The discovery of the funds was a pure accident, due to a security flub at the California bank.

It seems that October 4, 2009 will be hallmarked as the day The Patriots lost a substantial amount of power. Of course, things are not always as they seem…


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